Apartment Therapy has a great piece on really creative birdhouses auctioned off for a good cause--affordable housing in Los Angeles. (for people, not just birds)

Here's a pull quote:

"Birdhouses for the Birdhouse Auction, an event hosted by Princeton Community Housing, invited architects, artists and other creatives to fashion their own vision of the common birdhouse. With 124 different built from the likes of architects Michael Graves [top] and the Princeton Design Guild/Wilkes Architect [bottom left], the results were anything but common."

I've installed indoor plants for clients, but it didn't usually entail much more than choosing the best-shaped plant for the space, the right plant in concerns to light, and the planter that complemented the interior décor. This client is a principal at Deep Green Living, a consulting business that helps homes and businesses go green. She's originally from the sweaty, beautiful tropical chaos of fruit, flowers and foilage that is Coconut Grove in Miami, was feeling a little homesick. She didn't want an accent plant--she wanted a mini-jungle.

So when recently at the Brooklyn Botanic Gardens, I wandered through their greenhouses; while looking at the tropical and desert micro-climates, I realized this would be a lot like creating a perennial border. Start with a tall center, and work down in a triangle, and try to have different textures and hues of foliage.

We made our way up and down 28th street, the final gasp of the plant district, comparing the health and sizes of different plants. My advice to the client when choosing--follow your heart. She did, and didn't get any bonsai or succulents, but really went for the tropicals.

We then headed through the outer boroughs for the perfect planters. These Eco Pots are made from rice and biodegradable. After about 5 years, you just plant them in the ground, and they become organic matter. They are available at:
The New York Botanical Garden
GRDN
and coming soon to Sprout Home.

We purchased these for the smaller plants to sit in the windowsills.

For the larger, we ended up finally purchasing black zinc planters on 28th Street (hint, the earlier you go to Planter Resource, the less cranky and more helpful the people are), but here are a few that we also liked:

Dig has nice ceramic pots, but they were too heavy and not quite modern enough for this space:

New York Botanic Gardens Carries these pretty, light weight resin planters, and they're very inexpensive. They just didn't have the variety of sizes that we needed.

Sprout Home had a nice selection, but to buy as many as we needed from them would have meant a wait of two weeks. We did get our castors from them. As well, we bought worm casings (poop!) for composting the tropicals.

And finally, the watering can from
Smith and Hawken.

Before

After
(Keep in mind, houseplants clean formaldehyde, benzene, and carbon monoxide from the air, so this is a very simple and effective way to improve the air quality in your home.)

Here's a close up of the variegated leaves and different colored foliage available with tropicals.

Here's the Eco Pot, en vivo.

We are now working on indoor edible plants. We're going to find some kumquat and Mandarin orange trees that will fruit indoors. As well, we're purchasing herbs, and starting lettuce leaves for indoor window boxes.

I just got leafy green seeds in from Thomson & Morgan Thompson & Morgan
that include:

The blend consists of Leaf Radish, Leaf Carrot, Wrinkled Cress, Kale Red Russian, Red Amaranth, Golden Purslane, Salad Burnet, Spinach, Red Chard, Red Cos, Lambs Lettuce,
Watercress, Lollo Rossa, Baby Cos, Rocket, Coriander, Continental Parsley

The blend consists of Leaf Radish, Leaf Carrot, Wrinkled Cress, Kale Red Russian, Red Amaranth, Golden Purslane and Salad Burnet.

Spinach
Red Chard
Red Cos
Lambs Lettuce
Watercress

Lollo Rossa
Baby Cos
Rocket
Coriander
Continental Parsley

Almost every day I pass by the new Night and Day Condos, a massive structure that runs 18 stories high and towers over McCarren Park. This is known as one of the "finger" buildings, as it sticks up like a finger in a neighborhood of low buildings, and symbolically, they are giving the rest of the neighborhood the finger. The developers recently installed a garden in the back of the building, which gave me pause. There was something so odd and out of place about it.

The garden looked like it should be at a convalescent home in the suburbs.

The rows of Arborvitaes, also known as contractor specials, as they are the cheapest evergreens available, are crammed into soil that's still filled with chunks of cement that will leak toxins into their roots. They have a tendency to turn brown, so this will hurry that process along; the bright red mulch looks neither organic nor modern, just tacky.

The accent tree is a shapeless Spruce--the second cheapest evergreen you can find; and then mono-planting of boxwoods and grass make sure a bird or butterfly will never alight anywhere near the property. They do have a little seating area with benches, though they are so exposed and uninviting, I can't imagine anyone would actually sit there.

The condos aren't cheap, running just a little under $100.00 a square foot. So with 18 floors of condos, each costing around a million dollars, why wouldn't you spend a couple hundred dollars on a dogwood tree or a few perennials? The accent tree should be a gorgeous hinoki cypress or Korean White Pine.

Here's a description of the building from a
Real Estate Agent selling a $950,000 2-bedroom apartment in this building.

"Rising 18 stories, Number Twenty Bayard is the new high point of McCarren Park. As the tallest building on the parks perimeter, this defining addition to the Williamsburg landscape has the most enviable views of Manhattan. With interior designs by Andres Escobar, Number Twenty Bayard suggests a boutique hotel with superior finishes and thoughtful accents."

As I snapped a few photographs of some of the exterior "thoughtful accents", a construction worker started to yell at me to "stop taking photographs of the garden." I yelled back, "Why?" He never answered me, but I really wanted to know. Was I going to steal some of their ideas?

Like their row of Arborvitae:

A place I do go for ideas and inspiration, the Green Dome Community Garden is less than a block away from from the finger Night and Day. It's a tiny space, but one of the nicest small gardens in the city. The dwarf evergreens are varied colors and textures which include Hinoki cypress, blue spruce, white pine, and cascading juniper. Ornamental grasses provide shelter for birds, and you can hear birdsong year round here.

Yuccas and rose hips also provide year round interest. The curving stone paths lead through raised beds of perennials-- in the spring poppies come in at the same time as the iris, butterflies love the Echinacea and purple aster in late summer. There are a few benches tucked between big clusters of lavender and artemisia where you can sit and read a book.

Crocus are in bloom now, and come springtime, it's just a marvel.

Clearly, this has been planted by people understand the poetry of a garden; the other by real estate developers who want to spend the least amount of time and money possible. But making money isn't a bad thing, and in reality, actually creating a beautiful landscape with plants that support bio-diversity, having a variety of ornamental trees, and good design enhances the value of property. Herein lies the difference between Value Added and Staging in landscaping.

Staging is to make your property look good to people shopping for homes. When you look up staging ideas on the Internet, tips generally include terms like, "tricks" and "fluffing".(Isn't fluffing a term from pornography sets?) Tips include: Place flowers in two large pots flanking entryway" or "Hang flowers or ferns." So while these might improve the moment of entry for buyers, they don't in fact add value to the property. When the frenzied real estate market was at its peak in New York City, landscaping wasn't necessary. But as things cooled off, real estate agents started contacting gardeners to help them fix up a place. A friend of mine, a gardener in Brooklyn Heights, was repeatedly contacted by agents. At first she was excited by the prospect, but quickly learned that many of them were paying for the plantings themselves and didn't really want an installation that would last for years and improve over time, but rather a few plants that looked good while showing the place. Since payment for the landscaping came out of the agent's pocket, they wanted to spend as little as possible.

In contrast to this, real estate appraisers estimate that good landscape design increases property value 15 percent. As far as plants go, large trees are the slowest to establish but add the greatest value to property. In a city, large trees might cast so much shade that a smaller, ornamental variety is more desirable. Try a native dogwood, cascading cherry tree, birches are always nice, or go for a fruiting tree such an apricot or pear, which have beautiful flowers in the springtime and fruit in the fall. Keep shrubs healthy and pruned so they don't look too wild and have a nice array that are blooming or have structural interest throughout the four seasons. As far as perennials go, it's suggested that you photograph them when they are at their showiest, and then present these pictures to prospective buyers. Other features such as irrigation systems and bluestone patios drastically increase your property value. Also keep in mind that when garden designers install hardscape and trees, shrubs, and perennials, these are considered capital improvements, frequently they are tax deductible. Annuals and bulbs, like tulips that don't return year after year are not deductible. (I had a rather humorous conversation with a New York State Tax man about this. He told me that bulbs are not considered Capital Improvement as they are annuals, and I said, 'what about daffodils, they come back year after year," to which I got a "look lady, just read the tax book."

Empty terraces used for storage are wasting precious space in cities. When we planted this native terrace, the client's boyfriend was skeptical about the whole endeavor. It was only 16 feet by 9 feet--how could we install everything we said we would--fountain, bat boxes, bird, butterfly, bee friendly plants, and have space for a little table and chairs. Subsequently, he had his coffee every morning, and beer at night in this terrace garden. As a cynical economist, he wasn't just won over, but also told his girlfriend that the installed terrace added about $10,000.00 worth of value to her apartment, as we essentially created an additional room.

Nicely designed gardens do not need to be expensive. They however do need to be well thought out. Gardens installed in the Curran House, an AFFORDABLE HOUSING PROJECT in San Francisco's Tenderloin District, are an example of excellent design that build a sense of community. This was designed by Andrea Cochran Landscape Architecture.

This is the "decompression" garden through which residents and visitors enter the building and leave behind the harsh urban neighborhood surrounding it. This sanctuary was planted with tree ferns, baby tears, flax, calla lilies and mondo grass.

A low fountain made of black concrete was placed at the center of the courtyard. The water runs in a thin layer over and flowing over the top through stainless steel grating into a re-circulating vault. This is mask the noises of the Tenderloin pulsing outside and it needed to be child-safe, so it is shallow.

The sunny rooftop garden has galvanized troughs so that residents can grow their own plants and vegetables. As well, the beds are raised for elderly and handicapped people. As the building reached 100 percent occupancy, demand for space out-weighed the number of available plots so citrus trees, pomegranates and kiwi vines were added.

The sustainability show that's opening at Eyebeam Gallery
tomorrow night could not be more timely, particularly the installation by Britta Riley and Rebecca Bray, two artists and collaborators who also have a company called Submersible Design.

Their installation, DrinkPeeDrinkPeeDrinkPee is a project about our bodies as part of larger ecosystems. The project includes an installation and a DIY kit that allows you to turn your pee into fertilizer. The installation will be on view and the DIY kits will be available at Eyebeam for the FEEDBACK exhibition from March 13 - April 19.

Their Artist Statement:
What happens when we think of our bodies as their own ecosystems? Are they open or closed ecosystems? Where do we draw the boundaries? Before we take medication, do we ask ourselves how it will affect our internal organs, our friendly bacteria? What is our medication's future, beyond our bodies, in the sewage system and out in the waterways we swim in and eventually drink? What are the possible futures of our personal waste? What do sentient ecosystems eat and drink?

In this work we can see our urine become a source of overfeeding, mutation, and disease or a fertilizer in a new lifecycle economy.

Just this week, the Associate Press released a report that has me filtering my water twice. We're drinking the drugs from each other's pee. Two days ago, AP published the story Traces of Sedatives in NYC Water By Jeff Donn. It states, "Research studies have turned up minute amounts of more than 15 drugs or their byproducts in several pristine-looking rivers, a reservoir, and aqueducts feeding the country's biggest water system.

Though barely measurable, these pharmaceuticals are present in a variety worthy of a medicine cabinet: drugs for aches, infections, seizures and high blood pressure; hormones for menopause; the active ingredient in a popular sedative; and caffeine -- all bound for the city that never sleeps."

But it's not just New York City that's all hopped up on their neighbors anti-depressants and estrogen. In fact, ABC.com released an article that says The AP's investigative team found traces of drugs in 24 of the 62 major metropolitan water systems it checked.

Rebecca and Britta studied the work of the Swiss scientists at EAWAG Aquatic Research who found:

Although urine makes up only 1% of the total volume of wastewater, it accounts for 50-80% of the nutrient content. Nutrients have to be removed by resource-intensive processes at wastewater treatment plants. In the absence of these processes, nutrient discharges pose a risk of eutrophication - threatening in particular coastal waters and fish stocks. Many problematic substances, such as residues of medicines or endocrine disrupters, also enter wastewater via urine and may subsequently be released into the environment. The Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology (Eawag) has now shown that separate collection and treatment of urine could make significant contributions to water pollution control and nutrient recycling worldwide . . .

Novaquatis tested various methods of processing urine. Ideally, treatment should permit recycling of nutrients as fertilizers and, at the same time, removal of problematic micropollutants. For example, 98% of the phosphorus in urine can be recovered by precipitation with magnesium. The product - struvite - is an attractive fertilizer, free of pharmaceuticals and hormones. In Switzerland, nutrients from human urine could serve as substitutes for at least 37% of the nitrogen and 20% of the phosphorus demand that is currently met by imported artificial fertilizers.

What's the problem with urine in wastewater?

While urine accounts for less than 1% of total wastewater volume, it contains 50-80% of all the nutrients in wastewater. Many micropollutants, i.e. residues of pharmaceuticals and hormones from human metabolism, also enter wastewater via urine. On average, for all medicines and hormones ingested, 60-70% of the active ingredient is excreted in the urine.

85-90% of the nitrogen and 50-80% of the phosphorus are concentrated in the urine. These nutrients are desirable in agriculture, but not in waterbodies. It may therefore make sense to separate urine from wastewater and use it for fertilizer production."

So I'm going to Eyebeam on Thursday night. I'll purify my pee before flushing it if you purify yours. FYI: The fertilizer that comes from urine is supposed to be good for fruit trees.

Animals in the News

Ohio's coyote comeback good news for gardeners - Donna Miller's Animals in the News
Sunday, March 09, 2008
Donna Miller
Plain Dealer Reporter

Ohio's coyote population is growing. That's good news for many of you.
Coyotes prowling your yard will eat the rabbits and rodents that munched your garden. They will scare away trash-raiding raccoons and the deer eyeing your favorite bushes. They also eat the eggs of those messy Canada geese so many of you loathe.

"I call coyotes nature's animal-control officers, because they control the populations of every kind of urban wildlife people complain about, and do it so neatly, quietly and efficiently that most of the time most folks have no idea that coyotes are among them," said Merritt Clifton, editor of the international Animal People newspaper.

Coyotes rarely bite people, but they can make meals of cats and small dogs.

Madonna's new Africa awareness documentary was directed and filmed by her personal gardener.
Thursday, March 13, 2008

Copyright World Entertainment News Network 2008

Madonna's new Africa awareness documentary was directed and filmed by her personal gardener.The pop superstar rewarded green-fingered multi-tasker Nathan Rissman by asking him to take charge of her new movie I Am Because We Are.

She explains, "He used to be my gardener... He's a brilliant, lovely guy - one of those guys who came into my life and did every job. He was a runner, an intern, a gardener.

"He took care of my kids. He did everything and he did it with humility. And everyone just grew to love him. And then he started doing these little movies of my children and sending them to me, and making films out of photographs and just being really creative.

"One day I said, 'I need somebody to document this,' and then looked at him and said, 'And that person is you.' He really stepped up to the plate."

Rissman took off to Malawi, Africa to document Madonna's film, which she wanted to release to show that famine, poverty and AIDS in the developing world are problems that can be solved.
The singer adds, "He spent a lot of time in Malawi, literally sleeping on the floors of people's huts and waking up with chickens on his head.

"He really lived it and approached it with an open heart and so much gratitude.
"People opened their hearts to him. I couldn't have done that."

For two weeks this March, hundreds of students and young professionals will converge on New Orleans - bringing their energy and ideas to help the people of the Lower 9 revitalize their community. They are architects, engineers, planners, landscape architects, interior designers and contractors who'll work hand in hand with neighborhood residents on their historic houses, parks, playgrounds and community centers. Visit the Historic Green website to donate or volunteer: Historic Green

Historic Green is an unprecedented opportunity to integrate sustainable practices with preservation of a place. To increase energy efficiency. To enhance its quality of life, housing and transportation. To protect the wetlands. To help create the nation's first carbon-neutral community.

GREEN SPACES
1. Volunteers will work with Holy Cross residents to protect and restore a community playground's play equipment, grounds, and access.
2. Garden construction and raingarden demonstrations in cooperation with Common Ground, Replant New Orleans, and others.
3. Design-Build services for a neighborhood community garden including compost bins, raised planters, walkways, tool-storage, and more.
4. Bayou restoration & access projects in cooperation with the Sierra Club and several university groups. Volunteers will work to improve a bayou access path, seal a viewing platform, and complete the construction of the viewing platform's designed railing.

This entry by Edina Tokodi was posted on the blog IInhabit

Pull Quote:
"One of our favorite green public artists, Edina Tokodi, is at it once again with her shape-shifting moss graffiti and urban guerrilla tactics. Tokodi was recently commissioned by SEPTA (Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority) to encourage Philadelphia's commuters to 'Go Green' with her navigable moss icons and green walls in the Market East Station's passenger service area, ticketing area, and on the exterior of the station building and Transportation Museum. The initiative is part of SEPTA's mission to help commuters become more aware of the positive environmental impact of using mass transit regularly."

Shelving for small balconies
Christian Lessing

I found this on Yanko Design

Here's a pull quote:

"Modern times being what they are, with sky high real estate prices and space in most larger cities running out quickly, designers are constantly put to task and have made "Necessity the Mother of Invention" yet again. Apartment living can be both practical and convenient for urban centric lifestyles, but the limited space available in most squares-of-air is usually enough to drive us to prescription drugs. I'm not really sure Tyler Durden would approve, but creating your little utopia in the sky just got a easier. Introducing the "Summer at the Balcony" by Christian Lessing. This multi-piece balcony wall unit looks inspired by retail store shelves and displays. By allowing for the easy adjustment of any number of surfaces, from a stool, to a bistro table, to even a flower pot holder, designing your perfect balcony space is easy as finding a Gap in mid-town Manhattan."

My friend Hayley sent me this great picture from the Macy's Flower Show

I just published in ABC.com about Sazon, a cooking school in the lovely town of San Miguel de Allende.

Click Here to see the full text:
Learning About San Miguel de Allende Through Shopping, Chopping and Tasting

Pull Quote:

Culinary travel is about more than merely tasting adventurers want to understand cultivation, explore marketplaces and learn to cook the dishes that once seemed exotic and mysterious.
Mexico, a food lovers' wonderland, is ahead of the curve with culinary schools throughout the country, offering packages that run from one-day to weeklong certificate programs.

The history and cultural evolution of Mexico can be traced through its culinary tradition. Yucatan-style food is marked by Mayan influence, and today pits are still dug to slow-roast meats with orange juice and achiote (annatto) seed. The Zapotecs of Oaxaca still brew mezcal as they did more than 2,000 years ago when priests used the ceremonial drink to heighten their senses, and gave it to sacrificial victims to lessen theirs.

As seeds are arriving in the mail and gardeners around the country are sharping their tools, spreading compost, and laying out their beds, keep in mind that many local food banks can use any extra produce you grow.

In Bloomington Indiana, there's a program that brings together community gardeners, back yard gardeners parks and recreation and Mother Hubbard's Cupboard the largest food pantry in Monroe County. Last year, the Plant a Row program collected more than 20,000 pounds of fresh produce. Full Article

In Seattle, there are about 70 community gardens (or P-Patches) as they call them, which have dedicated "giving gardens". Every year the Interbay P-Patch Food Bank Garden grows about 2 tons of fresh organic produce, which goes to a local food bank, meals-on-wheels programs and shelters for women and children.

To get you in the gardening mood: The Acoustics of Vegetables

Here's a YouTube link of the Vienna Vegetable Orchestra in concert and a description:

"Welcome. The Vegetable Orchestra performs music solely on instruments made of vegetables. Using carrot flutes, pumpkin basses, leek violins, leek-zucchini-vibrators, cucumberophones and celery bongos, the orchestra creates its own extraordinary and vegetabile sound universe. The ensemble overcomes preserved and marinated sound conceptions or tirelessly re-stewed listening habits, putting its focus on expanding the variety of vegetable instruments, developing novel musical ideas and exploring fresh vegetable sound gardens."

From the Vertical Farm Website

The Problem

By the year 2050, nearly 80% of the earth's population will reside in urban centers. Applying the most conservative estimates to current demographic trends, the human population will increase by about 3 billion people during the interim. An estimated 109 hectares of new land (about 20% more land than is represented by the country of Brazil) will be needed to grow enough food to feed them, if traditional farming practices continue as they are practiced today. At present, throughout the world, over 80% of the land that is suitable for raising crops is in use (sources: FAO and NASA). Historically, some 15% of that has been laid waste by poor management practices. What can be done to avoid this impending disaster?

As part of Etsy's DIY Wedding Series here are some eco-tips from Meghan Yudes Meyers from Portovert.com
on how to greenify your Handmade Wedding

These postings include tips by the likes of Design*Sponge and Indie Fixx among many other blogs. And soon the series will feature an article by City Dirt on buying Fair Trade and local wedding flowers, along with how to make DIY bridal bouquets and center pieces for the reception.

This is really bad. What sort of infidel steals flowers from a Veterans Memorial? And on Good Friday?

Click Here for Video: Click Here for the Video

SHERMAN, Tex. -- Police are investigating another theft in Sherman. This time it's plants stolen from a public park. What makes the crime even worse--those plants are part of a veteran's memorial garden.

The Grayson Master Gardeners planned the Veteran's Memorial garden with red, white, and blue flowers. Now there are just holes in the ground where those plants used to be.

Trampled pansies and dirt on the sidewalks are scattered among ground cover where flowers and shrubs to honor Grayson county veterans were stolen.

"It's disheartening that someone would come in and disrespects it this way and takes the plants," says Richard Green, Master Gardener's director.

Green says someone uprooted about $100 worth of perennials planted solely by volunteers.

"I actually brought my grandchildren out for Easter and I wanted to show them the site and there were holes where there should have been roses, salvias, and perennial plants," says Lacy Price, site coordinator who has logged more than 50 hours at the garden.

The Grayson County Master Gardeners maintain the site and were preparing the area to look especially nice for Memorial Day. The garden honors Grayson County veterans killed in our nation's wars. They don't know exactly when these thefts occurred, until Price saw the plants were missing.

"That's when we discovered it on Friday, Good Friday of all days," Green says.

They say it's not about the money, but about the time, effort, and purpose of the garden. They have one request for the community:

"Please don't steal our plants!!" Price says.

The Gardeners buy plants from donations. If you would like to help, contact the Master Gardeners at 903-813-4204

A mailing address is:

Grayson Co. Extension Office
Attn: Master Gardeners
100 W. Houston St., Courthouse
Sherman, TX 75090

First the loss of the South Central Farm in Los Angeles, and now this, the closing of a community vegetable garden. The city of Santa Cruz has decided that the $4,400.00 dollars a year they spend on water for this garden is too expensive. Why is it that counties have endless funds when it comes to incarcerating poor people but can't afford much that's positive for these communities? Also, why not just install rain barrels for irrigation? It's eco-friendly and cheaper in the long run.

Beach Flats garden moved to smaller plots
TOM RAGAN - SENTINEL STAFF WRITER
Santa Cruz Sentinel
Article Launched:03/27/2008 01:31:08 AM PDT

SANTA CRUZ -- After nearly two decades of planting cactus, cauliflower and other edible vegetables on 2 acres in the Beach Flats, gardeners are being asked by the city to stop planting, turn in their gate keys and prepare to move to a quarter-acre garden a half a block away.

They have until Monday.

Although the gardeners say they plan to follow the orders, they're wondering what the rush is -- especially since spring has just arrived and there are no immediate plans by the garden's owners, the Santa Cruz Seaside Co., to use the property on Raymond Street.

The community garden, which is used by about a dozen gardeners, is special to the surrounding Latino community, many of whom work in construction, the fields of the Pajaro Valley or at the Santa Cruz Boardwalk a few blocks away.

The vegetables grown there are a commodity. They're peddled in the streets, shared among neighbors and eaten. The harvest each year is a big event.

"We were hoping for a big harvest, but now it looks like the land is just going to sit here empty," said Spanish-speaking Domingo Mendoza, a 74-year-old Mexican immigrant who's been growing vegetables on the patch of dirt for more than a decade. "And have you seen the new garden? There's just no way we're going to be able to grow the same amount of vegetables over there." Click here for full text: Full Article

Bird Watchers Urgently Needed to Track Rusty Blackbirds
Citizen scientists use eBird to monitor alarming drop in numbers. Populations of Rusty Blackbirds are crashing! Their numbers have plummeted by as much as 88-98% over the last few decades, according to data gathered between 1966 and 2006 for the North American Breeding Bird Survey and Christmas Bird Count. A species that was once considered to be abundant is rapidly disappearing before our eyes. Your observations can help save this species by arming scientists with critical information about this species' ecology during migration. Bird watchers across North America are being asked to help scientists track spring migrant Rusty Blackbirds from April 1-7 using the eBird online checklist program. Your observations of this species can help fill in the important missing pieces of this conservation puzzle!

Scientists at Audubon and the Cornell Lab of Ornithology are appealing
to bird watchers to help fill this information gap by looking for Rusty
Blackbirds migrating north April 1-7. The data collected and reported
through eBird will help identify important migration stopover locations
and habitats for conservation. It will help researchers examine whether
long-term changes to key migration habitats are responsible for the
species' decline. If you are interested in participating, please
collect the following information, then visit eBird to send your observations, taking note of:

Date, time, and location of the observations

Rusty Blackbird flock size, including an estimate of number of males
vs. females.

General behavior: flying, feeding, loafing (day), roosting (dawn, dusk,
night).

Habitat: agricultural field, scrub-shrub wetland, forested wetland,
shores of rivers or creeks, shores of lakes or ponds.

Comments: Please include "Rusty Blackbird Survey" in the comments
section so scientists can determine whether you were specifically
looking for Rusty Blackbirds during your birding expedition.

Read about identifying Rusty Blackbirds at
eBird News

We're losing our pollinators. First honeybees were struck with a devastating disease, and now bats. Here's a pull quote:

Wildlife biologists fear a significant die-off in about 15 caves and mines in New York, as well as at sites in Massachusetts and Vermont. Whatever is killing the bats leaves them unusually thin and, in some cases, dotted with a white fungus. Bat experts fear that what they call White Nose Syndrome may spell doom for several species that keep insect pests under control.

Read Here for the full article: Bats Perish, and No One Knows Why

if you're thinking about getting a bat box, do it now as bats start looking for nests to have their young in the springtime. According to Bat Conservation International , adding bat guano or urine to your box doesn't help attract them. In rural areas, 60% of bat boxes are inhabited the first year, and in urban areas the number is 50%. By the second year, 90% of bat boxes are inhabited. (Though with this disease devastating the population in New York, who knows.) If you don't have any after two years, you may need to adjust your box.

The most important aspect is the box being warm enough. They need six hours of direct sunlight and if in the northern part of the country, paint it a dark color to absorb and retain heat.

I have two morning doves going at it on my fire escape. Their cooing is a constant and I often catch glimpses of their the feathers ruffling as they mount one another. Sometimes when I sit down at my kitchen table for morning coffee, it can result in a case of coitus interruptus for the birds.

Lately, one of them as been spending a lot of time in my windowbox, making herself at home; I suspect, that she's making a nest. While I would love to have morning dove chicks in my window box and see them learn to fly, but every time I go to use my sink, I scare her off. Birds have tiny brains and hardwired flight responses so they won't get used to me, and these morning doves are particularly skittish. English sparrows probably wouldn't care. When they're eating my herb box, I bang on the window and it still barely dissuades them.

So I'm worried that if I let them nest, I won't be able to use my kitchen sink for fear of scaring the parents away from the chicks. But with all the leveling of city blocks for condos in this neighborhood, they might not have many other places to go. I might need to make a kitchen bird blind.

St. Francis College will be showcasing a photography exhibition of Meredith Davenport's photographs of children who were born with birth defects because their parents worked on banana plantations that used the highly toxic chemicals that had been known to create sterility and other health problems, so they were outlawed in the United States, but were still sold for export.

The opening reception will be held on Tuesday April 1, in the Callahan Center from 5:30 - 7:30. All are welcome!

On April 21, between 12:30 and 1:30, SFC will host a panel discussion regarding the pesticide issue and what people can do to stop this epidemic from affecting more innocent children's lives.

Speaking of Bananas

There's an excellent Op-Ed in today's New York Times, Did Your Shopping List Kill a Songbird? Did Your Shopping List Kill a Songbird? by Bridget Stutchbury about how migrating songbirds are being poisoned while wintering in Latin America. This is mostly due to heavy use of pesticides, which while manufactured in the United States, are used in levels that are illegal here. These toxins are making out-of-season fruit available to use, but poisoning the environment.

Her Suggestions:

"What should you put on your bird-friendly grocery list? Organic coffee, for one thing. Most mass-produced coffee is grown in open fields heavily treated with fertilizers, herbicides, fungicides and insecticides. In contrast, traditional small coffee farmers grow their beans under a canopy of tropical trees, which provide shade and essential nitrogen, and fertilize their soil naturally with leaf litter. Their organic, fair-trade coffee is now available in many coffee shops and supermarkets, and it is recommended by the Audubon Society, the American Bird Conservancy and the Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center.

Organic bananas should also be on your list. Bananas are typically grown with one of the highest pesticide loads of any tropical crop. Although bananas present little risk of pesticide ingestion to the consumer, the environment where they are grown is heavily contaminated.

When it comes to nontraditional Latin American crops like melons, green beans, tomatoes, bell peppers and strawberries, it can be difficult to find any that are organically grown. We should buy these foods only if they are not imported from Latin America."